- Buy Rune Factory 4 on Steam
- Buy Rune Factory 4 on Nintendo Switch
- Buy Rune Factory 4 on PlayStation 5
Rune Factory 4 is one of my favorite farming sims of all time. It boasts beautiful 2D lofi backdrops blended with charming 3D character sprites. It’s colorful, silly, whimsical, and touching at all the right moments.
I recently jumped back into Rune Factory 4 so that I could finally jot down my thoughts about the game.
Rune Factory 4 Summary
You fall from the sky as a nameless protagonist, and land with such a commotion that you are rendered amnesiac. The small-town residents of Selphia—and guardian Native Dragon, Ventuswill—welcome you with open arms. After taking on the duties of Prince/Princess to assist a visiting city aristocrat, you begin building your life here: gardening, fighting monsters, cooking and crafting, attending festivals, and maybe even getting married.
You will also learn that you are an Earthmate, and begin solving the mystery of why certain powerful monsters are transforming into humans after you defeat them.
Rune Factory 4 Gameplay:
- Gardening, foraging, fishing, crafting, and living off the land
- Taking on requests to help the local villagers
- Befriending the townsfolk of Selphia and maybe even falling in love
- Upgrading your abilities and the town with Orders that can do everything from adding a new festival to expanding your backpack
- Adventuring in the wilderness and through runes to collect treasures and protect the town
- Attending festivals to enjoy the scenery or sometimes even win prizes
- Light puzzle elements in some dungeons
My Rune Factory 4 Experience
Hours played: 75 hours
Rolled credits: Yes
Coziness rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rune Factory 4 is one of my favorite cozy games of all times—but it didn’t start that way. At first, I was overwhelmed by how many button clicks it took to do the simplest things (gather items, change equipment) and the frantic, arcade machine-like pings of: Skill up! Skill up! Skill up! Everything levels up, from cooking and fishing to searching, walking, bathing, and sleeping.
It didn’t take long for me to fall head over heels for this game, though. And every time I pick it back up, my affection rapidly rekindles. It’s just so easy to be swept up in the addictive lull of the gameplay loop: wake up, water the crops, tend to the animals, run around town saying hello to everyone, and then decide how to spend your evening—exploring, fishing, fulfilling requests, grinding your sword or magic skills. And yes, there is the need to grind combat experience. Because combat is an integral part of the Rune Factory franchise.
The Rune Factory games famously popularized the “farming game with combat” subgenre, which now rules the roost thanks to the likes of Stardew Valley. But before that, farming sim predecessors Harvest Moon and Story of Seasons remained more innocent and mundane. Now, most farming sims incorporate some form of combat. And we have Rune Factory to thank for that shake-up.
It’s difficult to find harmony in this common genre mashup. Some games overuse combat and the farming aspects get lost. Others feel like the combat is so optional that it might as well not be in the game. In my opinion, Rune Factory 4 is an example of the perfect balance.
The game is divided into subtle “chapters” where a new wilderness area opens up to you, in which you can monster bash to your heart’s content. But there are also stretches of time where dungeon crawling is only for grinding, retreading ground. These moments give you time to focus on Selphia: the people, the farm work, the festivals, the crafting. It’s an ideal ebb and flow.
It’s a bit Legend of Zelda-esque in that the story is punctuated with dungeons that open up as you cross certain milestones. But the in-between time is yours to do with what you will: gather and craft resources, level up your fighting skills, or scrounge for in-game collectables.
The story is both wonderfully strange and charmingly simple. For some reason, you have no memories. But who cares about that! What’s more important is the dragon you befriended, Ventuswill, needs your help! As the guardian of the town, she seems to be keeping secrets about runes, guardians, and the future health of the kingdom. And you’ll have to untangle what it all means before it’s too late.
It’s a simple premise made magnificent by the richness and vibrancy of the characters. Ventuswill is no busybody mayor-figure nor elusive nature goddess. She is a friend, and you can speak to her at the castle every day. It’s through the perspective of her plight—at times which brought me to tears—that propels an otherwise basic fantasy trope (collect the blah to save the blah) into an endearing and emotive tale.
And it’s not just Venti, either. The townsfolk are a special blend of wonderful. Steadfast knight Forte, who is always on the lookout for an excuse to train. Merchant Bado who is constantly brainstorming new get-rich-quick schemes. Loud and jolly cook Porcoline, who is a staple in the franchise. Studious and bespectacled aristocrat Arthur (my personal favorite). Cheery and musical Margaret, whose slumber party event is….er, sure something!
And there are so many more, too. There is no one I dislike. Thank goodness for that, too, because daily socialization is rewarded in a unique way: you earn “Prince(ss) Points” (PP) for this and other mundane actions each day. Then, you spend those points upgrading your homestead and the town. You can build a barn, expand your room, add a new festival, bring in new merchants and wares, learn new abilities (in the guise of taking a licensing exam), and expand capabilities you already have (hold more magic, for example).
There is even a special “Extra Orders” section that only unlocks once you’ve finished the game. Plus, special Newly Wed chapters for every bachelor/bachelorette!
It makes for the perfect feedback loop: Do typical farming sim stuff, earn points, and spend those points making gameplay better over time. In fact, it’s so addicting that when I picked the game up to refresh my memory for this article, I accidentally sunk 5 full evenings of playtime into a new save file. Whoops!
Zero regrets, though.
Rune Factory 4 Special: Final Thoughts
Rune Factory 4 is a game so bursting with charm and life that I’m surprised it didn’t make my Nintendo Switch explode. It feels fast-paced with all the blinging Skill Up notifications and a to-do list a mile long, but the game is fairly paced with a robust tutorial that covers all the basics and then some (talk to the post box outside of the castle).
They have some awesome quality-of-life mechanics that I rarely see, like the fact that your tamed monsters drop produce (milk, eggs, wool), but can also help out on the farm, too. Small things like this really make it stand out in the farming games genre for me.
Rune Factory 4 is one of the few cozy games I don’t hesitate to recommend to anyone who will listen. It’s a tender story about friendship packaged in the kind of bright, blinging gameplay that makes it impossible to put down.
Key takeaways:
- Rune Factory 4 is often considered to be the best episode of the franchise
- Rune Factory 4 is a great game for folks who like Harvestella, Stardew Valley, and Sun Haven
- Also great if you are new to farming sims, as the “talking post box” gives a very thorough tutorial via requests/quests
- Rune Factory 4 is great for people who like longer, story-based farming sims
- It’s not great for people who don’t like combat or dungeon crawling
Stay cozy, gamers!
You might also like: Best Cozy Games on PlayStation, PS4 & PS5